Binary Burr - Bill Cutler by CubicDissection

 

This is a terrific example of Bill’s genius mind in regard to puzzle design.

Eric crafted this particular puzzle in 2013 and likely regretted it shortly thereafter as the myriad of jigs needed to accomplish is well beyond even the most experienced puzzle craftsman.

Jerry McFarland typically made most of Bill’s designs and I know first hand how elaborate and burr specific Jerry’s notching set up is, kudos to Eric for pulling this one off!

Here’s Eric’s description from CubicDissection:

“The Binary Burr is a classic Bill Cutler design. It was awarded a First Prize at the 2003 IPP Puzzle Design Competition, and has been unavailable for several years. Here is what Bill has to say about it:

"The Binary Burr is a burr that functions like a 6-ring version of the Chinese Rings. The puzzle consists of 21 pieces. One is equivalent to the 'bar' in a Chinese Rings puzzle, and six others are equivalent to the 'rings'. The other 14 pieces in the puzzle construct a 'cage' or 'box' that holds the other pieces in place. The entire puzzle should perhaps be called a 'boxed burr', and might be more logically constructed with only a solid wooden cage, however Bill chose to dissect this outer shell into smaller burr-like pieces.

To disassemble the puzzle, the rings and bar must be manipulated until the bar is freed. After the bar is removed, then the rings can be removed one-at-a-time, and finally the remaining pieces come apart easily.

The number of moves required to remove the first piece is 85, which is approximately 2 * (2/3) * 2^6 or 85.3 . Each move of a ring on or off the bar in the Binary Burr requires two moves - a movement of the bar piece, and a movement of the ring piece."

Construction of this puzzle was tricky. The humidity in my workshop was fluctuating wildly, so I opened up the tolerances more than I usually do to make sure the final product wouldn't bind up or get stuck. The good news is that I was successful there - this puzzle should work in all humidity conditions. The bad news is that the puzzle turned out looser than I would have liked, having perhaps .035 inch cumulative tolerance variation. In practice this means that while the puzzle looks and functions fine, it's a little looser in the hands than my normal standards. I have subsequently discounted the price quite a bit from the $200 I had planned to charge.

Each puzzle is signed and dated; 39 copies made for sale.”